I can’t believe I am going to be completing one year on Paleo in another two weeks! When I first started on Paleo and that too with AIP in December of last year, I was very apprehensive about how long I could last without eating rice. Rice had been a staple for me – at least one meal a day for all my life! Considering my initial trepidation, I guess I did great! I was on strict AIP for only 4 weeks and after that I slowly started reintroducing spices. The ‘Indian’ in me was learning to live without rice but she definitely needed her spice! With my vast repertoire of Indian curries that use spices in varying proportions, with each blend having its own distinctive flavor, how could I stay away?
I however use very less quantity of spices than what a traditional indian curry might call for. But I definitely needed them! And as long as I could go back to my curries, albeit less spiced versions of them, I was good. And then began a quest for making some kind of bread with which I could sop up all the delicious curries! Cassava flour to the rescue and I started making cassava rotis/parathas/tortillas and was one happy mama!
Now only one thing remained. I needed something substantial for breakfast since I do not like to eat meat for breakfast. I don’t know why …perhaps just because I never did that before. And since eggs and oats were out too, I was left with very slim options. So even large bowls of smoothies couldn’t satisfy my appetite for breakfast. And that’s when I started making lots of other sides to go with the smoothies – plantains – boiled and pan fried, boiled sweet potato, mashed sweet potato, yucca mash etc etc. And then I rediscovered tapioca pearls and started making tapioca pearl pudding, tapioca sweet potato savory hash etc etc. If you check my instagram page, you can see all my creations there!
And finally last month I came up with this sweet potato and tapioca pearls pancake. In India, there is a similar recipe for a savory pancake where potatoes are used instead of sweet potatoes. So I decided to swap the potato with the sweet potato and tried different variations of the recipe to come up with something that was absolutely perfect for me. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. A slight drizzle of maple syrup or honey is all you need to make your breakfast perfect!
This pancake recipe is unlike other regular pancakes where you have a flowing batter. Here you get a dough and then you need to pat the dough carefully between plastic or parchment sheets to make a pancake shape. I have attached step wise pics so you can see the consistency of the dough as well as the detailed steps. Believe me, its not too hard once you get the hang of it. I make it literally every other day! This recipe below makes 5-6 pancakes which is like 2 servings.
Hope you try this and let me know how you like it!
Bringing these delicious pancakes to the AIP recipe Roundtable this week hosted by Phoenix Helix
- ½ cup tapioca pearls, soaked overnight in water (they should measure about 1 cup after soaking since they swell after soaking)
- ¾ cup mashed 'white sweet potato' or regular sweet potato (boiled, peeled and mashed carefully without introducing any water)
- ¼ cup water chestnut flour(plus 1 tbsp more if needed)
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- About 2 tbsp coconut oil for frying
- maple syrup and fresh fruits for serving
- Wash the soaked tapioca pearls in a colander several times until water runs clear. Then strain completely and blot dry using paper towels. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Add the mashed sweet potato, chest nut flour and the salt also to the bowl.
- Mix well using your hands and form a dough. Dough will be slightly sticky which is ok. if its too sticky, add some more chestnut flour. Divide dough into 5-6 dough balls.
- Heat a frying pan on medium heat.
- Take one ball at a time and pat on a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper to form a pancake shape. (see step wise pics below recipe)
- Add a tsp of coconut oil to the pan.
- Peel the plastic or parchment carefully and place the pancake on the pan.
- Cook on medium heat for about 2 mins. then flip carefully to the other side and cook again for another 2 mins. Transfer to a plate.
- Finish cooking all pancakes the same way.
- Serve warm pancakes with a drizzle of maple syrup and / fresh fruits.
These look delicious! I was wondering if I could use tigernut flour, cassava flour or even coconut flour in place of the water chestnut flour…? 😀
Thanks!
You could definitely use tigernut flour in place of the water chestnut flour.
Hiya! I’m new to your blog! LOVING it, btw! I’m over at http://MyBlissfulJourney.com and would LOVE to link you up and visit and comment often. Let me know if that is ok. This recipe looks unique and delicious!
Hi Jennifer, thank you! Nice to meet you! Yes its fine for you to link my posts on your blog as long as you don’t include the entire post but just some initial content and then provide link to my site. And absolutely you are more than welcome to come over and comment! – Indu
Bravo, Indu! I have been learning a lot about Paleo from your blog. 🙂 The Sabudana Thalipeeth looks awesome.
thank you Aruna! And I am glad you are learning something new 🙂 Yes thalipeeth is what its called in Maharashtra right? I saw the recipe of the savory version on youtube and loved that! So thought of making a sweet version using sweet potato.